Executive Summary

Introduction - the consultation and who
responded

This report presents the analysis from the Scottish Government
Consultation on its Draft Delivery Plan 2016-2020 on the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (
UNCRPD).
The consultation, which was open between 8 September 2015 and 18
January 2016, was available in various formats. Funding was
provided to Disabled People's Organisations (
DPOs) to
support engagement with disabled people across Scotland as part of
the consultation and the Independent Living in Scotland (
ILiS)
project produced a resources pack to support this process.

There were 91 responses to the consultation. Of these,
two-thirds (61) were received from groups/organisations and one
third (30) were received from individuals. The largest category of
respondent was third sector/equality groups who submitted 38 of the
responses (42%). Eighty-nine respondents gave permission for their
responses to be published.

Recurring themes emerging from the
consultation

Certain themes kept emerging in relation to a number of
questions, and key gaps in the delivery plan were also identified.
These are summarised in Chapter 2 of the report, and are listed
below.

The following recurring themes emerged:

generally supportive of the delivery plan and its aims, but
wanted it to go further

engagement

inclusive communication

some commitments are too vague

widen the plan out to cover all disabled people

geographical inequalities

not all barriers are physical, attitudes and stigma often
described as the biggest barrier

cross cutting nature of the commitments

person-centred services

disability and equality training for staff across a range of
services

disabled people are not a homogeneous group, issues of
intersectionality

human rights

model of disability used

implementation of the delivery plan

monitoring and evaluation

dissatisfaction with the current situation for disabled
people

Key gaps were identified in the following areas:

mental health

children and young people, and the early years

education

social care

transitions

the right to a personal and social and family life, and the
need to take steps to reduce social isolation and promote social
inclusion.

civic and political life

civil justice

The Four outcomes

Section 2 of the delivery plan sets out four outcomes the
Scottish Government and its partners are working towards.

2. healthcare provision and support for independent living, with
control over the best use of resources, including support for
disabled children

3. to education, paid employment and an appropriate income and
support whether in or out of work

4. the justice system without fear of being unfairly judged or
punished, and with protection of personal and private rights

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents agreed that together
these four outcomes cover the key areas of life the Scottish
Government and its partners must focus on to achieve the rights of
disabled people.

Amongst those who agreed, disagreed, or neither agreed nor
disagreed, key gaps were identified, primarily around the lack of
focus on mental health, children, or social care. For some
consultees these gaps meant that they could not endorse the four
outcomes.

Sixteen commitments were included under outcome 1. Consultees
were asked if they felt that these commitments would help the
Scottish Government make progress towards outcome 1. Over three
quarters (77%) agreed that they would.

Links were made between the different commitments and accessing
other rights. Transport was recognised as important for accessing
other services, and adequate housing was seen as a prerequisite for
accessing other rights.

A lot of the comments received under Outcome 1 indicated that
consultees were generally supportive of these commitments.
Recurring themes mentioned included engagement, inclusive
communication, and comments about the practicalities of
implementing the commitments.

Access issues were mentioned in relation to transport, housing,
sport and culture and tourism. The role of attitudinal barriers,
among service providers and members of the public, were emphasised,
in addition to physical barriers. In relation to accessible design
it was stated that access was about more than wheelchair access and
that it should also cater for other unseen disabilities.

The need for training around disability and equality was
mentioned for a range of service providers, such as those who plan
and design buildings, bus drivers, taxi drivers, and people working
in sport, culture and tourism.

The limited nature of commitments was noted. In relation to an
award for accessible design (
commitment 3), for example, it was commented
that an award alone would not be sufficient to improve
accessibility, whilst funding for a para-sport facility in
Inverclyde as part of improving disability inclusion in sport (
commitment 13) was criticised for not
benefiting disabled people from outwith the central belt.

Suggestions were also offered around various commitments, such
as what guides might include (
commitments 7 and
8), what the One Scotland awareness raising
campaign could include (
commitment 16) and how virtual access to
historic sites could be explored (
commitment 12).

Outcome 2 - Equal and inclusive access to healthcare
provision and support for independent living, with control over the
best use of resources and support for disabled
children

Nineteen commitments were included under Outcome 2. Consultees
were asked if they agreed or disagreed that these commitments would
help the Scottish Government make progress towards Outcome 2.
Nearly three-quarters (73%) agreed that they would.

A recurring theme was a desire for the commitments to be widened
out to include others beyond the scope of the commitment. For
example,
Commitments 17 and
18 (health inequalities data collection and
advocacy) explicitly refer to people with learning disabilities. It
was suggested that that they should apply to all disabled
people.

It was also suggested that
commitments 22,
23, and
24 (employment within the
NHS) should be
extended to all workforces

Commitment 26 relates to carrying out Child
Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments on all policies relating to
children, but it was argued that this should be extended to embrace
policies not specifically aimed at children but which will affect
children.

There were also calls for
commitment 30 (Child Internet Safety
stakeholder) to be expanded to include vulnerable adults, and for
the scope of mental health legislation being reviewed in
commitments 31 and
32 to be expanded.

Finally, it was suggested that
commitment 35 (learning and development
framework for foster carers) should be widened out to include all
parents and kinship carers of disabled children.

Other recurring themes included comments relating to
implementation, engagement and inclusive communication, and there
were calls for more detail and clarity around some of the
commitments (
18,
27,
28,
30 and
32).

Questions were asked about why this outcome was the only one to
specifically mention children, with the suggestion that either
children are included specifically in the titles of all the
outcomes, or a separate fifth outcome about children is
included.

Outcome 3 - Equal and inclusive access to education, paid
employment and an appropriate income whether in or out of
work

Thirteen commitments were included under Outcome 3. Consultees
were asked if they agreed or disagreed that these commitments would
help the Scottish Government make progress towards outcome 3.
Seventy-one per cent agreed that they would.

Recurring themes emerging under the Outcome 3 commitments
related to the implementation of the commitments and the need to
engage with disabled people.

The importance of supporting post school transitions to help
young people access work or further education was emphasised, and
there was a call for person-centred services in connection with
commitments 43 and
44 (Disability Employment Services in
Scotland and support to help disabled people into work).

When commenting on
commitment 46 (Disability Benefits Advocacy
Support) and
commitment 48 (establishing a social
security system that treats people with dignity and respect),
consultees reflected on their dissatisfaction with the current
benefits system administered by the Department of Work and Pensions
(
DWP).
They spoke of the negative impact of cuts to welfare and benefits
and dissatisfaction with, and stress caused by Personal
Independence Payments (
PIP) and
Employment Support Allowance (
ESA)
assessment procedures. There were calls for the Scottish Government
to continue to mitigate against Westminster cuts to welfare
spending.

Consultees provided numerous suggestions for how a future
Scottish social security system could improve on the current
system. Most suggestions were made by one consultee. Those which
were suggested by more than one consultee were: the need to
overhaul assessments (3); have a system that does not
dis-incentivise finding work (3); and better co-ordination between
benefits, social care, work and education (2).

Outcome 4 - Equal and inclusive access to the justice
system without fear of being unfairly judged or punished, and with
protection of personal and private rights

There were six commitments included under Outcome 4. Consultees
were asked if they agreed or disagreed that these commitments would
help the Scottish Government make progress towards Outcome 4.
Eighty per cent agreed that they would.

Commitment 50 (encouraging the reporting of
hate crime against disabled people) received the most comments.
There was a belief that education and awareness-raising around hate
crime, what it is, its impacts, and how to report it, was required.
It was believed that disabled people, the general public, children
and professionals who deal with hate crime, could all benefit from
education and awareness-raising. It was also believed that disabled
people needed more support to report hate crime.

The need for engagement and inclusive communication were
recurring themes.

There was also a belief that some of the commitments should be
expanded. In relation to
commitment 51 (accessible information), for
example, consultees suggested that the kind of information made
available in accessible formats should be widened and for the range
of formats to be increased.

Similarly, with
commitment 52 (accessibility of sites and
services) consultees wanted this to be widened out to go beyond
wheelchair access and consider a wider range of potential
barriers.

Commitment 54 refers to violence against
disabled women and girls, but some consultees pointed out that
disabled men and boys may also face violence, and that violence
against any disabled person needs to be addressed.

The three cross-cutting themes

The delivery plan outlines three cross-cutting themes, which it
identifies as ways of working, which will underpin all that is done
to deliver each of the outcomes. The themes identified are:

Consultees were asked if they agreed or disagreed that these
were the most important themes that the Scottish Government needed
to build in to the way it works across all activity to achieve the
rights of disabled people. Three quarters (75%) agreed that they
were.

Whilst most consultees were broadly supportive of these themes,
there were suggestions for themes which should have been included,
or given more focus. In particular, it was felt that human rights
should have been more central to the delivery plan, and also that
the rights of the child should have been given more prominence.

Other themes suggested were: free social care at point of
delivery, in order to strengthen disabled people's empowerment and
participation; combatting social isolation and promoting social
inclusion; supporting people to lead independent healthy lives;
intersectionality; and violence

Next steps and any further comments

Consultees were asked for any comments they had about next
steps. The most common theme related to the content, layout and
structure of the plan and consultation. It was felt that both the
plan and consultation could have been easier to read and more user
friendly.

The implementation and evaluation of the plan was also commented
on. Evaluating progress against the commitments was seen as very
important.

Again, the importance of engaging with disabled people was
highlighted. Some consultees mentioned the commitments that they
would like to see added to the delivery plan. These included:
specific commitments around mental health; and health and social
care integration.

Conclusion

On the whole consultees were generally supportive of the
disability delivery plan and its aims, outcomes and themes. They
did, however, want it to go further, and also noted a number of key
omissions. In particular, the lack of focus on mental health, on
children and young people and on social care was seen as especially
problematic. It was also stated that there should be a stronger
focus on human rights within the delivery plan.